why does my cat cough and then gag when he purrs?

he only does this when he begins to purr. he will kind of cough and gag, is it a hairball? he has been doing it for a few months now, the first time i noticed it was last year sometime and it seems to have subsided untill now as he is doing it pretty regularly. he is 3 or 4 years old. tia

PLEASE get to a VET asap

One of my cats kinda does this too, when she's purring she will randomly kinda peck her head forward, but no cough or anything, but it's one of those pecks/bobs that she often does before throwing up. We had her at the vets a couple weeks ago for an eye infection (the purring thing has been happening for months) and he said that aside from the eye infection, she looked perfectly healthy. But I agree with the pp, I'd go get a vet check.

Please get him to a vet. It may turn out to be a hairball, or even nothing, but you don't want to take any chances with the little guy. If it is something serious, getting him there quickly might make a difference. Please let us know what you find out.

what ended up happening with this? did you take your cat to the vet? any kind of update for us?

I'd like to know how it went too.. a friend has a kitty that gags and coughs when purrs, her trachea is too small and she has to be pilled everyday..one of my fosters is a bit like that & she has an elongated palate..that kitty should have had an x-ray taken; it'll tell if it is a birth defect or another problem

Originally Posted by zinc

I'd like to know how it went too.. a friend has a kitty that gags and coughs when purrs, her trachea is too small and she has to be pilled everyday..one of my fosters is a bit like that & she has an elongated palate..that kitty should have had an x-ray taken; it'll tell if it is a birth defect or another problem

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My Sneakers does this a little too... and my other flat-faced cat snorts. I would take your kitty to the vet. What breed is she? I have two cats who have kind of flat faces, and sometimes they have trouble breathing. I would agree that it is probably a physical problem.

Zinc, did they do surgery for your friend's kitty with the elongated palate? My vet suggested that Godiva might have that problem and that there is a surgery they can do.

im taking him to the vet tomorrow and will let you know what the outcome is.

What did you find out? One of my kitties does this when she drinks too quickly or when she's got a little drainage going on due to allergies.

Stephanie

Any news, 97guns?

the doctor listend to him breath with his stethescope and said that he was weazing some. he wanted to do an xray and blood test and the whole package was gonna run me $400. i opted for the drugs, a steroid pill and an antibiotic liquid to be taken 2 times a day. he said it should clear up his lungs, the drugs were $100, well see if they do any good.

Thanks. Hopefully your kitty just has an upper respiratory infection, and nothing seriously wrong! Good luck. Although I was hoping she had the same problem as my Godiva so I could hear what they suggested doing!

WOW - its only been the second day of medication and i cant seem to get him to cough or gag no matter how much i pet him and he purrs. his very heavy purring has also quieted down alot.

Glad it's apparently working!

Glad to hear the kitty is doing better

we had to put him down last year, he had a tumor or something in his throat. i just started hanging out again because i picked this guy up yesterday.

I am actually very sorry to hear this, but your information here could save others from similar pain (even more so their cats!). karma for you.

Our cat Coco is doing a similar thing, and so far we are giving her Zyrtec and a steroid but it doesn't seem to help much. Vets have suggested it could be a foreign object (such as grass or foxtail) stuck in her nasal cavity. Our option A. is a 1200$ mission of sending a scope down her nose or whatever to see what it looks like. B: get x-ray and cross fingers. C: medicine continuation and cross fingers. 

Hope this helps.